Synodality “a pastoral imperative”: Catholic Bishops in Congo Brazzaville

They add, “The path of synodality is one that fights divisions and barriers and builds bridges. We are all called to collaborate, to cooperate, and to work together. May each of us feel that we are protagonists in the building up of the body of Christ that is the Church.”

The Catholic Church leaders further say, “The notion of synodality implies sincerity, honesty, and uprightness because walking together must be done in trust.”

“We need to fight against the anti-values that plague our Church and our society. In this sense, the fight against anti-values remains topical. Corruption is in full swing at all levels, and the culture of convenience has taken over from effort and sacrifice,” the Catholic Bishops say.

They continue, “The synodal process challenges us and invites us to review our way of being and working together: not against each other, each in his own diocese as he sees fit, or the Bishops on one side and the Priests on the other, or the leaders against the ordinary members, but all together, with each other, listening to each other with patience and humility, pooling our strengths.”

CEC members further say, “The Church today needs pastors trained in synodality, who exercise a new style of ‘leadership’, a leadership of service and not of power, a new way of exercising authority.”

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They call for “continual conversion, which requires a change in behaviour, because the synodal process implies personal and community conversion, the renunciation of egos in favor of the ‘We’, of communion as opposed to working alone.”

The Catholic Bishops also underscore the need to “grow in spirituality, to rid ourselves of any worldly spirit (rivalries, competitions, complexes etc.), in order to truly live as children of God. In the synodal journey, spirituality must be at the forefront of our conversion efforts.”

CEC members further emphasize the importance of family commitment, saying, “The family has a major role to play in this journey towards synodality because it is the ‘domestic Church’, the ‘basic cell of society and of the Church.’”

“Parents must educate their children in the values of life, teach them to work together and participate in community initiatives,” they add.

The call for the fight against all “anti-values that stand in the way of communion. For this reason, synodality requires the adoption of a new lifestyle based on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”